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Stress and Children

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Did you know that children are just as likely as adults to feel stressed and overwhelmed?

Contributors to childhood stress include school, over-scheduling or family dynamics. Many young children put pressure on themselves by worrying about peer pressure, balancing school work with extra-curricular activities and making friends. Even preschoolers can feel stress. Their stress points may be separation from parents, a change in daily care or a new baby. Young children may express their stress through a change in their eating habits, talking less or trying to control bodily functions.

How can parents help? When your child complains about having too many things to do after-school or not wanting to go to activities – listen – this may be a signal that a child is over-scheduled and may need a break. Be sensitive to behavioral or developmental changes.

Parents should also be aware of how they manage their own stress and frustration. Children learn from their parents’ behavior, even if it looks like they’re not paying attention. Children are sensitive to everything their parents do and they will mimic strategies for dealing with difficult situations. Be a good role model.

One of the best coping mechanisms for children is routine. Young children thrive on routine; when they know what to expect they are more likely to adapt to changes faster and deal with their emotions better.

Find out what we’re doing that’s educational and fun each month with the Goddard School monthly events newsletter SUBSCRIBE HERE

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The Difference between Discipline and Punishment

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

The question of how to discipline a child comes up regularly in discussions with parents at The Goddard School.  Here are some helpful ideas on this topic.

goddard school cedar park child care

Contrary to popular belief, discipline and punishment are not equal.  Discipline is positive and should prevent the need for punishment.  In fact, the word “discipline” is derived from the Latin “disciplina” which means teaching or education.  Discipline helps to guide children toward positive behavior, promotes self-control, encourages children to think before acting and is not damaging to their self-esteem.  Punishment, on the other hand, is negative – whether physical, verbal, withholding rewards or penalizing.

Positive discipline teaches children rules and behaviors in a respectful, loving and considerate way.  It requires thought, planning and patience from parents and caretakers, such as:

  • “No, don’t run inside!” becomes, “What happened to our walking feet?  Where do we use our running feet?”  or “We will go outside soon and you can show me how fast you can run.”
  • “No, don’t throw the blocks!” becomes, “When did our blocks grow wings?” or “Let’s try building a castle and see what happens!”

Use positive discipline to redirect your child’s behavior, and you validate the legitimacy of your child’s desires and shows you care and understand.  Redirecting endorses your child’s right to choose and begins to teach that others have rights, too.

Children also respond to reasoning – it just needs to be put into their language.

  • ‘Inside feet’ versus ‘outside feet’
  • ‘Soft hands’ versus ‘hard hands’
  • ‘Inside voices’ versus ‘outside voices’

Create a Positive Environment

  • Show the love; smile, touch, hold, caress, kiss, cuddle, rock and hug your child!  This will not only make your child feel secure and happy, but is essential for normal social development.
  • Listen and answer as an equal – not as an instructor.  This will help build your child’s self-esteem and foster respect.
  • Spend time with your child every day.  Make time every day to drop everything and play with your child – even if it’s only for a couple of minutes.  Your child will realize they don’t need to have a temper tantrum to gain your attention.
  • Catch your child doing something good – praise and compliment!  “You’re doing a great job feeding yourself and keeping your food on your plate!”
  • Provide simple rules and state them in positive terms.
  • Demonstrate the behavior you want your child to adopt – actions speak louder than words.

Find out what we’re doing that’s educational and fun each month with the Goddard School monthly events newsletter SUBSCRIBE HERE

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Children’s Educational software

Friday, January 15th, 2010

At The Goddard School, parents are interested in educational software applications appropriate for children.  Here are some suggestions for ages 3 years to 6 years old and areas of cognitive development focus.  If you’ve some other suggestions that you like, let us know!

Computers for small children
Image by petaj via Flickr

CURIOUS GEORGE
Ages 3 through 5
* Creativity
* Shape Recognition
* Color Recognition

LEARNING IN TOYLAND
Ages 3 through 5
* Number Recognition
* Animals Sounds
* Telling Time
* Shape Matching
* Following Directions
* Shape Recognition
* Visual Discrimination

CASPER
Ages 3 through 5
* Memory
* Listening Skills
* Mouse Control
* Mix and Match

I SPY JUNIOR
Ages 3 through 5
* Word Recognition
* Problem Solving
* Letter Recognition
* Matching Words to Objects

ELMO’S PRESCHOOL
Ages 3 through 5
* Turn Taking
* Sound Discrimination
* Problem Solving
* Sound Patterns
* Letter Recognition
* Animal Names
* Color and Shape Recognition
* Counting

LEGO PRESCHOOL
Ages 3 through 5
* Number/Letter Recognition
* Spatial Relations
* Color Recognition
* Creativity

READER RABBIT PRESCHOOL
Ages 3 through 5
* Critical Thinking
* Shape Discrimination
* Recognizing Patterns
* Auditory Perception
* Counting
* Number and Letter Recognition

BLUE’S CLUES BIRTHDAY ADVENTURE
Ages 3 through 6
* Shape Recognition
* Problem Solving
* Matching
* Logical Thinking
* Visual Discrimination
* Spatial Perception
* Deductive Reasoning
* Color Recognition

MR. POTATOE HEAD
Ages 3 through 6
* Problem Solving
* Following Directions
* Counting
* Shape Recognition
* Matching

Visit our website @ http://www.goddardschool.com//Schools/Cedar-Park-TX/Schools.gspx &  follow us on Twitter @  http://twitter.com/GoddardSchoolCP

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Creating Quality Family Time

Friday, January 8th, 2010

The Goddard School of Cedar Park knows creating quality family time can be quite a challenge, especially when you are a modern day family in which both parents work. However, just because you and your significant other work full time jobs does not mean that your family has to suffer. It is possible for you and your spouse to hold down full time jobs to support your family and still be able to take a time out for your family.

Raineri Children family portrait Watford 2001 ...

Creating quality family time is a crucial part of your family. It may seem like a challenge to fit the time in there, but it is possible and it is necessary. Taking a time out to spend time with your family is beneficial to your entire family, especially children. Family time should be exactly what it says, a time for you and your family to spend time together. Make the most of this time and make it solely about your family.

One of the most important things about this time besides that the time should be about your family is that it should be a time that everyone enjoys. For instance, if your family loves to watch movies, then spending time having a family movie night would be a great idea for creating family quality time.

The key to creating quality family time is to make time. We all have busy schedules, but family is one of the most important things, if not the most important thing that we have. We need to step back from our busy schedules and take time to enjoy our families more often. Sit down with your family and evaluate your schedules. Do you really need to go to the gym seven days a week? Find a way to make a “family night” once a week or a time frame each night. You will find that this time becomes one of the mandatory events in your planner.

This time for your family is great. The more often that you can do it is wonderful. However, it does not matter whether you have a family day or a certain time every evening that you spend quality time together, the important thing is that you do it.

Once your family has created a specific day or time frame that is good for creating quality family time, you should find a way to spend your time. Doing the same thing every time can become boring and may cause someone in the family to become bored with the activity, so it may be best to mix up family time. For instance, you could rotate turns on who gets to pick the activity for family night.

Some great ideas for family time include:
-Crafts
-Family game night
-Family movie night
-Outdoor activities

These are just a few of the many things that you and your family can enjoy during your family’s quality time together. The key to having an enjoyable family time is spending time with your family, doing something that you all are enjoying and having fun doing together.

Your kids will enjoy getting to be in charge of creating quality family time when it is their day to pick an activity. This is also a great way to spend time with your child. Your child can express themselves and you will learn more about your child. Your child will have a good time because they got to pick an activity for family time that they enjoy and you will enjoy it because your child chose the activity. Quality family time is a time that everyone will love.

Visit our website @ http://www.goddardschool.com//Schools/Cedar-Park-TX/Schools.gspx &  follow us on Twitter @  http://twitter.com/GoddardSchoolCP

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Bonding With Your Infant

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

At The Goddard School of Cedar Park, infants as young as six weeks are cared for in our infant suite. Bonding with your baby is a natural and ongoing process and will become a precious part of parenthood to be cherished. Let’s explain by giving some examples and insights.

The bonding between parent and infant will always unique is one of the most intimate type of interactions that can take place. There is first the sense of discovering each other and then becoming familiar with one another. Your baby will depend on you because he knows that his needs are being met by you in the most simplest of ways.

Mother and baby
Image by ECohen via Flickr

They will feel your face and get to know your individual scent as you do theirs. They’ll start recognizing your shape, your voice, your sounds and many other things that are new to their world. They trust you from the start because they have no choice but soon they look forward to your voice and know they want your love. They know they depend on you not just for their needs but for interaction and affection.

Some time after you start bonding with your infant, you may experience an epiphany. It’s the realization that this baby is a part of you and in fact is an extension of yourself yet will grow to be their own person. You are everything to this infant’s world as they are to yours. Other than the baby’s everyday needs, they need interaction and the more they get the more chance they have of being a self-assured and well-adjusted individual.

In addition to physical contact, eye contact is important for many reasons to the emotional bonding with your child. They learn from your eyes – when they see them twinkle when you laugh, for example. It helps to teach trust and to gain trust, it helps to identify each other and it helps to establish an unspoken familiarity seen in the eyes of each other. It will start with you but will extend on into their lives and continue to benefit them as they grow and mature.

Bonding with your infant at first is usually strong and can be overwhelming but most wonderful at the same time. Talking to your baby and looking into their eyes often while being gentle, being funny and being affectionate gives them that positive emotional connection with a parent that will be with them for the rest of their life. Trust, needs, wants, appreciation, emotion, comfort, familiarity, confidence, security, self-worth and self-esteem and many of life’s lessons all start with the bonding that occurs in your infant’s first months.

Visit our website @ http://www.goddardschool.com//Schools/Cedar-Park-TX/Schools.gspx & follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/GoddardSchoolCP

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Goddard School – activity for your child

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

The Goddard School® located in Cedar Park, Tx recommends trying new activities with your child!

Kite flying is a great family activity.  Make your own or buy one; either way flying a kite is enjoyable for both you and your family.  Here are a few kite-flying tips:

Q:    What is the best wind to fly a kite?
A:    The ideal wind for optimum kite flying is 5 to 25 mph.

Q:    How can you make your kite dance?
A:    To make your kite dance in the sky – pull in, and let out the lin

e. Repeat this and watch your     kite perform!

Q:    What is the best flying space for your kite?
A:    Your space should be clear and open, giving you enough room to move your kite around.  Find a park, a beach or an open field.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 13: A large ted...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Safety Precautions:
- Avoid flying your kite on roads or near power lines and airports.
-Watch out for kite-eating trees!  Wind goes over and around trees and buildings so avoid flying your kite near them.
-Never fly a kite during a storm.

Visit our website @ http://www.goddardschool.com//Schools/Cedar-Park-TX/Schools.gspx &  follow us on Twitter @  http://twitter.com/GoddardSchoolCP

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Children’s activity, Goddard School

Monday, October 12th, 2009

The Goddard School® located in Cedar Park, Tx recommends trying new activities with your child!

APPLE PRINTING
Materials:
Apples
Paint (Use washable poster paint for paper prints and fabric paints for clothes)
Paper plates
Something to print on
Newspaper to protect table

A Malus sieversii apple
Image via Wikipedia

Art smocks
Knife to cut the apple
*Children should have adult supervision throughout this activity.

How To:
1. Cover your working area with newspaper, and make sure everyone is wearing old clothes or a smock!
2. Pour paint on to paper plates (one color per plate).
3. Cut the apples in half.  Create an apple silhouette by cutting the apple from top to bottom, or create a circle with a star by cutting the apple horizontally.  Have your child guess what each shape will look like before you cut the apple, or brainstorm different ways to create different shapes with the apple.
4. Have your child dip the flat side of the apple in the paint, thoroughly covering the apple, and then place it on the printing surface.
5. Have fun creating fun designs and pictures with your homemade stamps!

Visit our website @ http://www.goddardschool.com//Schools/Cedar-Park-TX/Schools.gspx  & follow us on Twitter @  http://twitter.com/GoddardSchoolCP

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What Your Child Learns Through Play-Part II

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

At The Goddard School of Cedar Park, we take play “seriously!”  Here are some things we (and you as a parent) will observe.

Get Set (30 to 36 months): Just like the name states, get set for more play. The Get Set child is truly developing an identity. He knows his own name – first and last – and can tell you where his friends are playing. Get Setters know ‘they can do it’ and want to be like adults. They will share and wait turns, communicate in short sentences and demonstrate their personal understanding of the world around them in their play. Get Set children will soak up any information you share with them. They can understand words like “under” and “over” and the description of how a plant grows. Art is no longer about exploring the material itself, but rather what they can do with the material. They will even paint with the opposite side of the paint brush just to see what it will create. Get set for your child to amaze you with his knowledge of good hygiene and specific book choices. A Get Set child can also multi-task now; try singing and doing the motions to the song or have a conversation while he paints.

Two children with instrument. Międzyzdroje.
Image via Wikipedia

Preschool (36 months +): This is the age of expectations. The preschool child’s play looks like going to work. As he mingles among the Interest Centers he is also playing out a role. Preschoolers have a large vocabulary and understand the intonations of language. As they act out a role, they will try on different emotions and see how they fit into their own personality. Preschoolers have begun to connect the spoken word to written language and can orally retell a favorite story. They are interested in cause and effect and can identify their colors, shapes, sizes and weights; and they want to explore what happens when they change them. A preschool child may remain in a particular Interest Center for long periods of time until he has exhausted his curiosity. Don’t forget to stand back because the preschool child also needs his space to move. Watch as he develops rhythm and tempo as both an individual or group learner. Either way, preschoolers are movers and shakers.

Pre-Kindergarten (48 months +): Complexity is the nature of the Pre-K classroom. Pre-Kindergarteners are complex social beings wanting to play with specific friends and still identifying when they want to do it alone. They can recognize how objects and people are the same and different simultaneously, and they can appreciate those attributes. Playing is beginning to turn into concepts. For instance, all of the exploration at the water table develops into an understanding of water – floating, sinking, absorbing, dissolving, etc. Pre-K children use their four years of play experience to develop an identifiable knowledge – they can match by relationships and verbalize invisible concepts, such as time and calendars. They no longer need to see or hold the toy to play; they can recall previous experiences and use the knowledge. While listening to music they can name the instrument, move to the beat and sing along. In Pre-K, phonemic awareness and the written word are magical – writing words is play.

Visit our website at http://www.goddardschool.com//Schools/Cedar-Park-TX/Schools.gspx and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GoddardSchoolCP

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Potty Training Challenges

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

If you’re having challenges with potty training, here’s a guest post by Crystal Stevenson, MA, LPC-I a child and family therapist and a Goddard School parent. 

That is the question on you and your toddler’s minds. Training your toddler to use the potty may seem like it goes on forever, and that’s because it is a long process. There will be a stage that your little one does great, followed by a time where he won’t sit on the toilet even with your best bribe. Remember that coercing a toddler to do something they don’t want to do (including potty training) results in a power-struggle, and this is one struggle I do not recommend entering. Research shows that a coercive approach over a laize-fairre approach does not speed up the process of potty training. A child with the most defiant attitude towards toilet training can literally change his mind in a day. Be sure not to make potty training an issue of your child being told they are a “good” or “bad girl.” These words can cause a regression in using the potty from feeling like they disappointed mom or dad, which causes a loss of self-esteem. Use phrases such as, “You did it!” or “Way to go!” These don’t pass judgment on their character. Try using techniques at home that increase their awareness of when they go to the bathroom, like having on cotton training pants or just going bare bottom in uncarpeted areas of your house. Being in a comfortable environment, where you’re not stressed if they mess the floor (or grass outside), will take the pressure off both of you. Any pressure or tension they feel around pottying can reverse any progress they’ve made, and even cause constipation and Urinary Tract Infections from holding it to avoid the issue. Remember that just by being at The Goddard School they are seeing their friends go daily, which can be very helpful as it encourages them to want to do what their friends are doing!

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Children’s activity from Goddard

Monday, September 14th, 2009

The Goddard School® located in Cedar Park, TX recommends trying new activities with your child!

Weather Window Activity
Materials:
Clear dishwashing liquid
Pre-mixed tempera paints in a variety of colors
Aluminum foil muffin pan
Paint brushes
*Children should have adult supervision throughout this activity.

Directions:
1. An adult should mix about 1 Tbsp. of dishwashing liquid with 1/2 Tbsp. of paint. The mixture should have a creamy consistency, like house paint.
2. Pour various paint colors into the wells of a muffin pan to create a pallet.
3. Children can paint ‘sunny day’ scenes on windows and sliding glass doors. Use a different brush for each color.

TIP: Keep paint away from windowsills and woodwork. To remove the artwork, or to fix a mistake, wipe with a moist paper towel.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.goddardschool.com//Schools/Cedar-Park-TX/Schools.gspx

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